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Sternwheeler – Staying with friends

A lot of happy people at the Sternwheeler after the MYAU 2023 - photography: Callum Jolliffe

It is really comforting to know, when you are planning your trip, that the hotel you will be staying in, is doing a great job. A place with very nice rooms, where staff is friendly and helpful. It quickly feels like staying with friends. That’s what the Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference Centre is for us. Therefore, I am very happy to confirm that this excellent Whitehorse hotel will be our partner and pre-race headquarter again in 2024. As such they also provide MYAU athletes with preferential room rates. For information on those rates and how to book, please check out our Travel section.

Spending less on your MYAU adventure

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

You are thinking about doing an Arctic Ultra for the first time and you are wondering about the kind of budget you need and how you can be cost efficient? Here is some advise that will hopefully help:

  • Sign up early. No matter if it’s for our race in the Yukon or in Sweden, entry fees do go up in a first step after the end of June and in a second step after the end of August. So, if you know for sure, you want to participate, sign up early. It will also give your motivation for training a real boost!
  • Find out, when it is usually the cheapest to book your flights. One thing is for sure, getting your flight tickets last minute hardly ever is a good idea.
  • Gear is a big one. If you already are into winter sports or adventures, you are lucky and will have most items you need. If you are new to this, it can cost a lot of money. One thing to consider is if you already know this will be a one-off. Should that be the case, it definitely makes sense to rent things like the sleeping bag, pulk sled and winter sleeping mat. If your plan is to spend several years participating in winter ultras, it’s easy to do the math on rental versus purchase. Although, there is one more aspect to look into, which the cost of extra luggage, i.e. if you travel with two or three pieces of luggage, how will this affect your travel cost each time you go? If you buy gear, there are a few things you can do to save money:
    • Buy when it’s SALE season. On Racelite.de you will find a lot of winter products discounted at the moment.
    • Athletes who sign up, get a 20% discount from Montane.
    • Look into getting used products, especially on items like a tent, pulk or other kit that is often sold used but still in excellent condition. Feel free to use our facebook group if you want to offer or buy used gear! Another facebook group that is useful when it comes to everything gear related, is Terra Glacialis.
    • Get quality products. Yes, this may mean spending more money on the initial purchase but in the end, the quality of a brand like Montane or a material that comes from Pertex, will make you spend less.
    • Related to gear is the challenge of getting the overall weight right. On the one hand, you want to and need to be safe out there. On the other hand you, too much weight will make things very difficult, if not impossible. You may have done everything right but simply put too much weight in your sled and you had to scratch because of it. For those of you with no or little experience, the training course will give vital input on that topic. Also, please feel free to ask me (Robert Pollhammer) any time you have questions on equipment. And, again, please use our facebook group. Many race veterans are more than happy to share their insight.
  • If you know you want to do winter ultras for more than one winter, start with a short distance like the 100 miles in the Yukon or 185 km in Sweden. Yes, it is possible to go straight for the longer ones and succeed but often it does not work out. Even with very good preparation, you will make some mistakes. If you have a DNF in your first winter race, not only will it take a toll on your motivation but also, it means you literally pay more for the lessons you learn.
  • This next one may sound a bit “funny” … but read the rules and make sure you follow the updates on the race in the months leading up to the start. It is kind of obvious but each year we have some participants who forget to or do not take the time to do something as basic as reading the rules. Again, this may lead to a DNF and more money being spent in order to reach your ultimate goal of finishing an Arctic Ultra.

Jessie Gladish receives Shelley Spirit of the Yukon Award 2023

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

There are many reasons why the Shelley Spirit of the Yukon Award 2023 goes to Jessie Gladish. The most important one is the fact that Jessie has always been keen on helping others. She did not hesitate one second when the decision had to be made about who could take the lead organising future training courses after Shelley passed away. She likes to see others do well, succeed and enjoy the adventure. Not only does Jessie care about others before the race. She always keeps the safety of others in her mind during the race. On more than one occasion Jessie, as an athlete in the MYAU, slowed down and stopped to help fellow participants and/or to make sure they are okay.

Then there is Jessie’s positive attitude. Yes, she has had very emotional moments on the trail, like most athletes. When she did the MYAU 2019 she said herself that she had been very tempted to burn her skis on a couple of occasions. In 2022 I was with her when massive overflows really messed up our race and tough decisions had to be made on the final stretch from Overland Parking to Takhini Bridge. It was not easy. However, it did not matter what nature or the MYAU threw at her Jessie always kept her positive attitude, pushed through difficulties and came out the other end with her big smile. It’s also legendary how she always arrived at the finish line looking like she just started.

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

Last but not least, it needs to be said that Jessie is the second participant and first female athlete to have done the MYAU 430 mile race in all three disciplines – foot, ski and fatbike. That’s not why she is getting the Shelley Spirit of the Yukon Award 2023 but it’s obviously an amazing achievement that needs to be mentioned. It’s also amazing that every single time Jessie competed, she finished:

2015 (430 miles/foot)
2016 (300 miles/foot)
2017 (430 miles/foot)
2019 (430 miles/ski)
2022 (300 miles/fatbike)
2023 (430 miles/fatbike)

Jessie will continue organising the MYAU training course and she intends to also be part of the crew during the race. Who knows, maybe we will also see her participate again one of those years. It will certainly be very interesting to see what else she will do when it comes to racing ultras.

So, I hope would will all agree with me that Jessie Gladish really deserves this award. Like Shelley, she shows us all what the Spirit of the Yukon means. We are all very proud of you, Jessie. And I am sure that Shelley, who is watching us from up there somewhere, approves and has got a big smile on her face.

Congratulations!

Training Course details updated

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

Once again, in 2024 the official MYAU training course will be organised by Jessie Gladish and with MYAU veterans Gillian Smith and Marianne Heading and bushcraft expert Fabian Schmitz she has a great team helping her.

This course is mandatory for anyone who wants to either do the 100 or 300 mile race next year but is not experienced enough in all aspects of hiking, biking or skiing an ultra in such extreme winter conditions.

It’s also an option to do the course one year and then come back and participate in the race the following winter. AND the course is open for people who actually don’t have the MYAU as a goal, i.e. it’s great for anybody interested in winter adventures – be it private tours or other winter ultras.

Feedback from course participants has always been excellent. Needless to say that Jessie, who now has finished the MYAU 430 mile race on foot, bike and ski has got a real wealth of experience.

The course information is now updated on our website. If you want to book it or ask questions, please get in touch with Jessie.

MYAU 2024 starts February 4th

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

The Yukon Quest announced their start date for February 3rd, 2024. That means next year the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra, 20th (!) edition, will start one day after, on Sunday Februay 4th. It will be great for all our athletes because seeing the dog mushers of the Quest take off in Shipyard’s Park is quite a site!

Possible distances to sign up for will be the marathon, 100 and 300 miles. The 430 mile distance remains biennial and will be back in 2025. The website is now updated for 2024 and and entries will be possible from this weekend onwards. If you are interested please either send an email (info@thegreatoutdoors.de), call or send a message via social media (facebook and instragram).

MYAU 2023 Final Race Report

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

20 years after the very first edition took place, the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra 2023 is history. Just like these last two decades went by very quickly, the last 2 weeks happened at what seemed lightning speed. The days leading up to our start were busy and for the first time we all have been guests at the Sternwheeler Hotel in Whitehorse. To me as the organizer this was pure luxury. Not only did we have the full support of General Manager, Nicole & her entire team, but also a lot of space to get organized, preparing rental gear, checkpoint kit and interacting with the athletes for any remaining paperwork and things like the briefing and gear check. On February 3rd we had a great dinner, prepared by Tony’s Restaurant, and on February 4th, from 9:45 am, we started transporting sleds to the Shipyard’s Park start line. Already before that, Gary Rusnak from our guide team had made a final trail check of the Yukon River and we were good to go. At 10:31 we had our count down and 7x marathoners, 12x 100, 5x 300 and 24x 430 mile athletes started their journey north.

The first checkpoint and finish of the Marathon distance was Muktuk Adventures. As always Manuela, Jeff and their team took great care of us. It’s a place for people who love dogs and since we all are in that category, it’s a real highlight for crew and athletes. It’s also a checkpoint that is very busy over a period of just a few hours because the participants are still close together. At about half way, at Takhini Bridge, we had a crew to give any marathoners who wanted it, hot water for their flasks. In some years it is also a place were an athlete or two may need to scratch. Not this year.

The marathon was won by Cheng Lun-Chiang (Taiwan/4:58). 2nd place went to Christina Bigrigg (Canada/4:59) and third in line was Greg Newby (Canada/5:02). All other marathoners reached Muktuk, too. It was great to see Jeffrey Mackie-Deernsted (Canada) finish. In his first try, last year, he did not reach the Muktuk. This time, after 9 hours and 18 minutes he made it and he got another medal for his collection.

100 miler Trevor Messent looked good on his way to Muktuk. He took plenty of breaks which made him arrive a bit late but that’s okay. It was mainly because of gear related issues that he could not go any further. Some athletes had caught a stomach bug, one of them being Joel Rennie from Australia. While the others continued, in the hope of getting over it soon, Joel clearly was too weakened by it. Because it was not an extreme weather year, I was able to offer him to recover and re-join the 430 mile race as an unranked athlete later on. Which he did.

Everybody else went into the first night.

Even if temperatures are not -40, it’s quite normal that we get a fair number of so called “help” messages during the first night, meaning athletes signal us with their SPOT tracker that they decided to quit. Talking about SPOT trackers, I want to say a big thank you to MYAU veteran and volunteer Scott Thomson who did an excellent job making sure that we had the maximum amount of trackers working from day 1. This year we did not get a single early “help” message!

While all this was happening, race volunteer Lorrie Lech went for a trail check from Braeburn to Dog Grave Lake and back. To make sure it is well marked and there are no other issues. Hiro Miyahama was with her as well. Unfortunately, Lorrie had an accident with her snowmobile. She hurt her shoulder. Not severely but bad enough for her not to be able to continue with the crew beyond Braeburn. @Lorrie, thank you for your support and for having been eager to help us for the full 13 days. It did not work out this time but there is always a next MYAU!

On the way to Braeburn a couple of athletes eventually did run into difficulties and were not able to continue. Arnie Owsley from the USA who is a finisher of the very first MYAU (2003 edition), Paul Fosh (England), Palle Andersen (Denmark) and Gillian Smith (Canada) all had to scratch. Arnie injured his knee, Paul had problems with one of his feet and Gillian was experiencing problems with Asthma. The entire MYAU team wishes you a quick recovery and we hope to see you again.

Chad Barber pushed very hard in the 100 mile race and he reached the finish line in a very good time (Canada/26:16). Next came Guillaume Grima (France/28:11) and third overall and first woman was Rebecca Ferry (England/34:41). All other 100 milers also reached Braeburn well before the cut-off time. Congratulations to all of you! The 300 miles are waiting for you 😉

At this point in time, things were going very well for most 300 mile athletes. Only 300 miler Jacob Myers decided to pull the plug between Mandanna Lake Checkpoint and Carmacks. He was experiencing problems and decided to stop before things got worse. Considering his work and project of reaching the South Pole, it was the right call.

Dirk Heller from Germany was eventually the first 300 miler to reach Pelly Crossing. Like the 430 mile athletes, he then went to Pelly Farm on the Pelly River. But instead of continuing further north, the 300 milers come back to Pelly Crossing on the loooong, hilly and winding farm road. Dirk took 173 hours and 9 minutes to reach the finish line. Elise Zender (Germany) and Josh Tebeau (USA) not only were new to the world of extreme winter ultras, they also are a couple. Combined with their physical fitness, their participation in Jessie’s MYAU training course and the right attitude, they did really well. And I got the impression that they still talk to each other 😉 The last finisher in the 300 mile race is Dirk Groth from Australia who I think has got a love hate relationship with the cold. It’s never easy to finish a race like the MYAU when you come from a hot climate country but Dirk did really well and we wish him and the other 300 mile finishers good luck for their future adventures.

Overall, things were still going really well for the 430 mile participants. However, with Michael Faergegaard (Denmark), Tania Halik (Canada) and Pat Cooke-Rogers (England) three more of them had to give up. Tania was very strong but would not have made the cut-off in Carmacks. So, she ended her race in Mandanna. Pat already finished the 430 miles a few years ago. She had set out to do it one more time. Unfortunately, she had technical issues with her bike and also did get very tired trying to reach the McCabe checkpoint. In the end she decided to push the “help” button and our guide Hendrik Weise picked her up on what was a very long day for him. Michael made it to McCabe but was unable to continue.

In the meantime, McCabe and then Pelly Crossing got pretty busy. The latter was challenging for both crew and athletes because, for reasons beyond our control, we were not able to use the checkpoint we normally get. I want to thank Selkirk First Nations, Sue Bradley and the School of Pelly Crossing for finding a solution on short notice. A smaller space, at the school instead of the so-called Link Building, meant for a couple of days it was a bit tight and thus “louder” than normal but it worked out just fine.

On the way to Pelly Crossing the sisters Josephine Bush and Roisin Ward had to end their race. Roisin was one of those affected with stomach issues and she finally had to admit defeat. Considering the difficulties, she had along the way, she got very far and because they are a team Josephine decided not to continue alone.

All remaining 430 mile athletes had an 8 hour mandatory stop at Pelly Farm. Because we still had a fairly large number of 430 mile athletes in the race, there was a lot of work to do at the farm. As always Dale and Sue, with the help of our crew, took great care of our athletes. Even tough they all hardly got any sleep, they and we were really happy to a) be back at this magical place and b) to have so many athletes making it this far. After all, we have had years with only a handful of athletes reaching Pelly Farm.

At this point in time, our crew usually gets stretched out over a pretty long distance – certainly in years with strong bikers like Jessie. So, we were still busy in the south but also had crew arriving in Dawson City. The advance team had the task to set up our last remote checkpoint at a place called Indian River. Luck was not on our side as it turned out that a shortcut we usually take to get there was not available due to large areas of glaciation. It meant that our crew had to go the regular trail form Dawson – which is longer and this year also was extremely difficult due to windblown trails. The team got stuck many times and also this trail had some areas with bad overflow. In the end they made the call to set up camp about 19 miles short of Indian River. That’s never an easy decision – especially knowing that athletes are already on the way. Luckily, we were able to let all of them know that Indian River was in a different spot. And Jessie and Matt who had been in the lead, knew that the Assistance Point would not be there for them. They both preferred to keep on going anyway and since the temperature did not go below – 35 degrees Celsius, I decided not to make them wait.

I don’t think Jessie and Matt regretted their decision. For them it was more important that someone broke the trail again. Which our crew did and when they finally ran into Jessie she was really relieved – after hours of pushing her bike through deep snow.

Winds kept on blowing in the trail. Gary, who went out again the day after the camp setup at Sulphur Creek, sent messages about horrible whiteout conditions. Luckily, it was not only us travelling this section. Mushers from the Yukon Quest started to arrive and teams from the Ranger and the Quest also helped keep the trails open.

First into Dawson City was Jessie Gladish (Canada/202:50). After having already finished the 430 mile race on both foot and ski, she now is the first women to accomplish this amazing feat in all three disciplines. Only Enrico Ghidoni also managed to finish this trilogy of extremes a few years back. And I don’t get tired of saying it, what makes this so special is the fact that Jessie hardly ever looks exhausted when she comes across the finish line. She is always injury free, smiling and seemingly could go on forever.

Matt Weighman was not very far behind and thus became first athlete on foot and 2nd overall (Scotland/213:02). 3rd overall is Laura Trentani from Italy (238:12). 4th overall and 3rd athlete on foot is Tommy Chen from Taiwan who came to repeat the 430 miles exactly 10 years after his first finish in Dawson. This time it took him 246 hours and 9 minutes. It’s been great to hear from this very friendly athlete who competes and places really well in many international races, that the MYAU is special to him – which is why he came back to repeat it.

All other 430 milers who were still in the race also finished before the cut-off. It was so great to seem them arrive! Gareth Hardcastle, Henrik Benzon, John Nakel, Chad Bustin, Brian James, Enrique Trull Maravilla, Javed Bhatti, Joaquin Candel, Russ Reinbolt and Steven Jones, congratulations! Special mention and thank you also to Joel Rennie who had continued unranked from Carmacks and helped Russ Reinbolt achieve his goal of making it all the way to Dawson City.

I want to thank all athletes who joined us this year. Yes, we had temperatures that were not as extreme as in some of the other years. But I am convinced that one reason why we have seen so many finishers was that many athletes had great strategies. Good resting times were combined with the right speed. Also, almost all athletes were really good with their SPOTs, i.e. pushing the “bivy” button and the “okay” button on their devices when they needed to. That was valuable for our work at Race HQ. I am very pleased with the way the athletes used their 2-way communication devices (mainly Garmin inReach), too. It helped on several occasions to answer athlete’s questions out on the trail or to inform them about certain situations, e.g. a changed location for the Indian River Assistance Point.

Thank you to all the crew:

Diane Patrick who helped recruiting our volunteers from abroad. All the volunteers – Sam, Anya, Jo, Jim, Sabrina, Daniel, Beth, Tony, Phil, Ellie, Scott, Margo, Sylvia, Peter and Callum. Our fantastic checkpoint hosts at Muktuk Adventures, Pamela and Eric at Dog Grave Lake, Steve, Leigh and team at Braeburn Lodge, Dan, Patrick and Bryan at Mandanna. Thank you Peter Heebink for letting us use your cabin! Thank you to Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation and the team at the Carmacks Rec Center – special thanks to the folks from the Culinary Course who spontaneously fed us on the last day with some absolutely amazing snacks! Thank you Kathy and Jerry Kruse at McCabe, Selkirk First Nation and the school in Pelly Crossing, Sue, Dale and Valentin at Pelly Farm.

Thank you to our snowmobile guides Gary (Rusnak), Joe, Robert, Hendrik, Fabian, Gary (Vantell), Tom, Chad, Ken, Hiro and Lorrie.

Thank you to race chaplain Pat who was there for others before and during the race.

Thank you Mark Kelly for the great photography and Callum for the amazing social media posts!

Thank you to the Yukon Quest for sharing resources and thank you Canadian Rangers for the many, many hours of work on the trails.

Thank you to our local sponsors, the Sternwheeler Hotel, Downtown Hotel, Total North, Driving Force, Coast Mountain Sports, Yukon Yamaha, Fraserway RV and Atlin Mountain Coffee Roasters. And thank you to our international sponsors Montane, Kahtoola, Pertex, Cumulus and Racelite.

Steven Jones (401) receives time penalty

I normally don’t make a big fuss about time penalties. Simply because I don’t like giving them. Luckily, it does not happen often that I do have to announce one. However, this one matters and that’s why I will make a post about it.

On the last day of his race, Steven Jones slept on the trail and was almost hit by a snowmobile travelling at high speed. As soon as I heard this I told Steven that the penalty would come. I just needed to digest it a bit. Obviously, the penalty does not diminish Steven’s achievement of having reached Dawson City. In his particular case, the 12 hour time penalty still leaves him with the medal, too. However, it makes him the last in the rankings and had he arrived in Dawson late at night on the 16th, it would have made him a DNF.

The 12 hour time penalty will also apply for any future cases of athletes sleeping on the trail. It is relevant for cut-offs! If an athlete does it a 2nd time, the consequence is immediate disqualification. The reason for the severe penalty is that sleeping on the trail can easily come with fatal consequences. In Steven’s case this almost happened. As you all can imagine, that’s an absolute nightmare scenario – not just for the athlete but also for his/her family, the other people involved in the accident and the entire crew! SO LET THIS BE A WARNING TO ALL FUTURE MYAU ATHLETES: DO NOT SLEEP ON THE TRAIL!

An emotional last day

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

The last five days went by incredibly quick. This is just a brief summary. A full race report will follow soon.

Matt Weighman (Scotland) placed 2nd overall and 1st on foot. Laura Trentani (Italy) came third overall and 2nd on foot. Tommy Chen (Taiwan) arrived in 4th place overall and third in the foot category. From the 12th to yesterday (16th) we have seen a very high percentage of athletes finish our longest race distance. In fact I do not believe that we have ever seen such a high number of finishers in the 430. I think there are several reasons for it. One, the weather was not extremely cold. Yes, it got down to -35 degrees C in some nights and in some places. But we were not faced with a cold spell with temperatures of -40 or lower. Secondly, the trail was in excellent shape – due to the hard work by the Canadian Rangers and also members of our crew. Needless to say that the cold weather helped, too. Last but not least, the athletes really had very good strategies when it comes to the right balance of effort and rest.

Some participants in our race to Dawson had to scratch. They are all fine but obviously they would have loved to spend more time out on the trails.

Our crew has had to overcome a few extra challenges. On the Dome windblown trails made it impossible to set up the Indian River assistance point as planned. Instead we set up the wall tent 19 miles further north. Normally, crew there would have rotated at least once. With access being more difficult that was not possible and volunteers Jim, Beth and Phil ended up staying there for the entire duration.

We have had some very emotional moments out on the trail and certainly also at the finish line. I will get into a bit more detail about some of the great stories in my race report. For now I would like to simply congratulate all finishers. You did extremely well!

I would also like to thank the Yukon Quest team here in Dawson City. It was a great pleasure to share the finish line with you and it was really cool to see the musher arrive.

Tomorrow we will all drive down to Whitehorse and get together or a party at Tony’s from 6 pm.

Jessie Gladish wins MYAU 430 mile race

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

Last night (Feb. 12th) at 21:21 Jessie Gladish arrived at our Dawson City finish line. That makes her the overall winner of the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra 430 mile race.

A lot of you following us will already know Jessie from previous years. What she has achieved with this year’s win is absolutely amazing. Jessie already finished the MYAU 430 on foot, on skis and now on bike. She is the first woman to do this and the second athlete. Enrico, the locomotive, Ghidoni from Italy managed to finalise this “trilogy” a few years back, too. The athletic achievement of this is insane. I am not sure if we will see more people make this happen in the following (hopefully) decades but I think it will at the most be a handful of  human beings who could possibly do it. And what makes this even more special is the style in which Yukoner Jessie did it. Looking at her at checkpoints and at the finish line you can never tell that she just had an incredibly tough day or a race. She always looks like she just started. On top of that, Jessie is always ready to help and support. She is also the organiser of the official MYAU training course.

The entire MYAU team, also from past years, congratulates Jessie. We are really happy to have been part of this journey.

So, let’s spread the word about this incredible achievement!

Dirk Heller wins 300 mile race

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

Dirk Heller from Germany is our overall winner for the MYAU 300 mile race. Second came Josh Tebeau (USA) and Elise Zender (Germany). Those two are also a couple and a race like this is a very serious stress test for any relationship. They did it in style! Josh and Elise also entered in the team category placed 1st team. They connected their entry with a fundraiser effort for We Can Run Project which is looking to contribute to the higher education of female students in Sierra Leone. Last and certainly not least came Dirk Groth from Australia who said it was incredibly hard, especially the road from Pelly Farm to Pelly Crossing – due to a lot of fresh and unpacked snow. But he made it before the cut-off of 8 days and I think he liked it 😉

Congratulations to all of you from the entire MYAU team! You did really well. Safe trip home.

Elise and Joshua earlier on in the race

Copyright: MarkKellyPhotography.ca

For more photos please check out our gallery. Also, you will find even more images and tons of short videos on our instagram page and in our facebook group.